Identifying the Main Factors of Iran’s Economic Growth Using Growth Accounting Framework

This paper aims to present empirical analysis of Iranian economic growth from 1950 to 2018 using data from the World Bank, Madison Data Bank, Statistical Center of Iran, and Central Bank of Iran. The results show that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capital increased by 2 percent annually during this time, however this indicator has had a huge fluctuation over time. In addition, the economic growth of Iran and oil revenue have close relationship with each other. In fact, whenever oil crises happen, great fluctuation in growth rate and other indicators happened subsequently. Even though the shares of other sectors like industry and services in GDP have increased over time, the oil sector still plays a key role in the economic growth of Iran. Moreover, growth accounting analysis shows contribution of capital plays a significant role in economic growth of Iran. Furthermore, based on growth accounting framework the steady state of effective capital is 4.27 for Iran’s economy.